How to Make a Mezuzah-Checking Schedule וויאזוי מאכט מען א סדר פאר בודק זיין די מזוזות

A mezuzah guards the home, but the mezuzah must be guarded too. Over the years the letters can fade or the parchment can tear. That is why Chazal instituted checking.

The Halacha

The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 291:1) rules: "A private mezuzah is checked twice in seven years, and a public one twice in a Yovel."

Wikipedia also notes that the parchments are checked for defects — small tears or faded letters — at least twice every seven years, and that this can be done by a sofer or someone with similar training.

Elul: A Good Time

On the Shulchan Aruch HaRav site, in an article by Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein, it is brought that the custom is to check tefillin and mezuzos in the month of Elul (if they have not been checked in the past twelve months), and to publicize this to others. It helps bring down a kesiva vachasima tova.

The System, Step by Step

1. Make a list: walk through the whole house and write down every door with a mezuzah — front door, kitchen, every room.
2. Label each mezuzah: when taking them down, put each mezuzah in its own bag and write which room it came from. When putting them back, return each to the same door.
3. Choose a checker: make sure he is a certified magiah — not every sofer is also a magiah. It is also brought that it is worthwhile to use different magihim in different years.
4. Write down the date: next to each door on the list, note when it was checked and what the sofer said.
5. Set a reminder: if you check every Elul, you are already well beyond "twice in seven years."

More Tips

• Old cases, tape or glue that you discard go into geniza.
• Ask the sofer to make sure the outer "shin" isn't covered when the parchment is rolled.
• You may stay in the house while the mezuzos are being checked; you don't need to put up new ones in the meantime.

A house with kosher mezuzos — a house with shemira!